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Monday, 24 December 2012

Planning for major events

Donna Monkhouse, Your BC Eye

2012 will always be synonymous with the UK staging one of
the most successful ever Olympic and Paralympic Games.Its success has become part of Britain’s
legacy.But despite the strong positivity
that surrounds the smooth operation of the Games, on the planning front, there were
many that complained about a state of over-preparedness, declaring that too
much time and effort had been squandered on unnecessary planning.

Wide-spread traffic chaos, business disruptions, terrorist
attacks and a grid-locked London were all predicted, but never actually occured.So perhaps the question we need to be asking
is not whether we did too much planning, but whether the quantity and quality
of the planning undertaken helped to minimise any disruptions and whether
without it, we would have experienced more chaos, more incidents and a less
successful hosting of this major event.

The Olympics is a great example of successful business
continuity management (BCM) – good planning, good organization and good
exercising.Those organizations and
individuals who knew that they would be affected by the Games (we all knew well
in advance when it was going to be happening!), adopted good working practices
that ensured that any potential disruption was either avoided entirely or kept
to an absolute minimum.

So what BCM lessons
can we take away from the Games?

Well there are many and all organizations whether big or
small, whether they are working in the private or public sector can benefit
from the numerous examples of innovative ideas and approaches that were adopted
in the planning of the Games.They can
also benefit from learning about the pitfalls of some bad planning decisions as
well as strategies to avoid!

A big event like the Olympics is
just one type of major event that could affect your business and remember, it
doesn’t have to be one that you know about in advance, it could be one that you
are not expecting!Whether a ‘known’ or ‘unknown’
event, the Olympic Games provide us with a great learning platform to enable us
to prepare better for any major event.

·Homeworking and flexible working for staff, the
benefits and the issues

·Transport and accommodation arrangements for
essential staff

·Lessons learned for future area-wide disruptions

·Supply Chain issues and how they were addressed

·Planning for potential disruptions to customer
service levels

·Communication Tools

·Exercising – what worked; what didn’t

The workshop provides an excellent opportunity to share good
practice; exchange ideas and build relationships with your peers from a wide
range of organizations that have been there and ‘worn the T-shirt’ as such,
enabling you to take away some valuable insights and knowledge that can be
applied to your own business.This is a
great way to make the Olympic Games part of your own company legacy and learn some
valuable BCM lessons that will help you to improve your own business continuity
planning and future strategy development.

If you can make it to London on that date, I would strongly
urge you do.The cost to book is
£250+VAT for BCI Members and Affiliates and £336+VAT for non-members.There is also an Early Bird Rate available if
you book your place before 9th January 2013.